


alive

by printician



Category: Blackwater (Comic)
Genre: Fluff, Kissing, M/M, i think i got the color of tony's eyes wrong but hey it's fine, just a lot of sweet boys, spooky unspecified ghostie goos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 05:21:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12764031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/printician/pseuds/printician
Summary: The boys get chased by an unspecific monster and almost die. Emotions ensue, as does kissing.





	alive

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this WAAAY before the comic started, so it's probably not at all suitable to the canon. But hey, it's still my two favorites smooching so whatever man.

They were alive. Jesus fucking Christ swinging from the rafters of a Catholic church, they were alive. Tony leaned against the thick steel door that stood between himself and Eli and whatever those things were, feeling the muted vibrations of what had to be fists pounding against the metal. He was alive, the burning of each breath within his chest was enough to tell him that, throat raw and dry with panting. Shit, if he was panting he couldn’t imagine Eli was doing too well. Tony quickly turned to his left, scanning for his friend and feeling his heart drop into his stomach. 

 

Eli was definitely far worse off than Tony. His small, sickly frame was crumpled against the wall, practically the entire span of his shoulders shaking with every exhausting inhale. Tony stooped, the rips in his jeans pressing the skin into achingly cold concrete, but he didn’t care. His own chest was still heaving, but for once he set thoughts of himself aside in favor of Eli. 

“Eli? Eli, look up at me. Please.” Tony’s voice was ragged and breathless, cracking on a few of the syllables. He hesitated on the last word, the pleasantry tasting like an unfamiliar sore in his mouth after so many years of disuse. It was hardly a pleasantry now, though, more of a plea. A desperate one at that. 

However, slowly and with obvious effort, Eli managed to tilt his pale, slightly rouged face up to Tony’s and lock eyes. Tony was struck with an unfamiliar spread of pain through his chest, dull and blunt as he watched Eli struggle to pull breath from the damp, chilly air around him. Fuck, was he shivering? Tony realized then how cold it was outside, now that they weren’t in the dingy underground lair of the creatures that had finally stopped wailing on the door behind them. 

In several jerky, uncoordinated movements, Tony ripped off his jacket and draped it hastily around Eli’s shoulders, smoothing it down over his slender frame with care he didn’t know his hands possessed. They sat like that for a moment, Eli slumped and panting while Tony’s worried palms ran over and over the leather of the jacket. 

Mist ticked past and goosebumps collected on Tony’s arms, but he didn’t notice. His knees were numb and he was bleeding from several places, but he was far too preoccupied. Eli was still shaking, goddammit, why the fuck should anything matter when Eli was shaking like that- 

“Tony, I’m fine.” It was more of a breath than a sentence, the only way Tony could even be sure that Eli had spoken was the puffs of white breath that came out of his lips a bit more irregularly than they had been before. 

“Fuck that, Eli, you almost died. We almost died!” Tony hissed, his hands still clutched to Eli’s upper arms through the jacket, “Shit, I gotta– you’re going to get sick, come here.” With very little grace or effort, Tony gently sat back against the wall, pulling Eli between his legs and surrounding the shivering boy with his warmth as best he could. He held his arms tightly around Eli’s waist, lifting his chin up for Eli to settle against his chest a bit more. 

This was weird, Tony knew. Exceptionally weird, even for them, two teenagers who had just gotten chased through some underground catacombs in the middle of nowhere. But that was a little less weird than the fact that he, Tony Price, was practically cuddling with his best friend right after that other weird event had taken place. 

“Tony, I’m alright. I really am. I’m fine.” Eli assured him, placing a cold hand on the center of Tony’s chest, pushing himself away slightly. Not enough to be separated from Tony’s warmth, of course, but enough to make Tony go over the weirdness of the situation all over again in his head and blush. 

There’s the weirdest thing. Tony blushing. 

“Eli…” Tony started, but was cut off by another one of Eli’s adjustments. He was still shaking underneath the jacket, Tony could feel, though slightly less so than before. Soon there was not only a slightly curled and concerningly cold hand on his chest, but a skinny arm snaking its way around his neck and more cold fingers slipping barely into the hairs at the back of his neck. Tony felt his own breath shudder in his chest like a sputtering flame, and the arm around Eli tightened that little bit. Tony’s eyes slid shut in a half attempt at blocking out the new heat in his chest, a slightly more familiar one now. 

They sat this way for a decent amount of time, breathing together in a tangle of limbs and sighs and clutches and thumb strokes. Eventually, Tony, being Tony, had to break the silence. 

“Are you okay?” He asked, turning his head to look at Eli, only to bump cheeks with the other boy as Eli then moved to look up at Tony. Eli didn’t reply, just smiling and nodding back up at Tony with foggy, slightly askew glasses. 

Tony tried not to look at Eli’s mouth too obviously. His lips were slightly parted, pale pink and chapped, freckles and little imperfections dotting around the edges. They looked inviting, and Tony swallowed all the dryness in his mouth with wide eyes and a sore tongue. 

“You’re hurt.” Eli murmured, reaching the hand that had been nesting in Tony’s hair to rub his thumb over a drying cut on Tony’s cheek, delicate and almost… sweet in his actions. Tony felt his face get hot again, and he looked anywhere but at the gentle slope of Eli’s cupid’s bow. 

“Ah, it’s just a scratch. Don’t worry about it.” Tony replied, quirking the side of his mouth a bit and shaking his head. The cut actually hurt quite a bit now that the adrenaline was wearing off, but Tony wasn’t about to mention that for any reason. “I’m tough. Gonna take a lot more than that to hurt me.” Wow Eli was close. Was he getting closer? Tony felt his breath pressing down in his throat, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. His stomach was tight and he didn’t know when one of his arms had gotten inside of the jacket but now his hand was covering Eli’s hip and– 

Oh. 

Eli’s mouth was so much more plush than he’d imagined it would be, what with his thin lips and penchant for scowling. He was incredibly soft, however, warm and gentle against Tony’s mouth. 

Normally first kisses were like sparks, hot and painful and plentiful if the fire was bright enough. But this, this meeting of lips and limbs and hearts was anything but painful. Tony was vaguely aware of a hand sliding up over his chest to clutch at the back of his neck, Eli’s other hand still resolutely cupping Tony’s cheekbone. 

Eventually they parted, pulling away only enough to barely separate themselves from each other. Their lips still brushed together in the space between where Tony’s breath ended and Eli’s breath began but it was so hard to tell where those endings were, atoms and hitches mingling together in a warm, gentle pool. 

Tony didn’t try to speak, any witty cynicism stolen from his brain by the ghosts of Eli’s lips pressing against his own. His eyes were still shut, heart clamoring in his chest as Eli’s thumb slid over his jaw. More goosebumps. Slowly, heavy-lidded eyes slid open, the snowy blues of Tony’s eyes nearly entirely eclipsed by his pupils. 

The first thing Tony bothered to notice as soon as his eyes opened was the dreamy, peaceful look on Eli’s face. His lips were a bit darker of a pink now, tongue brushing between his parted lips. Tony couldn't help but press forward again, smearing his mouth a bit messily against Eli’s, using the hand he had gripped on Eli’s hip to pull him closer, hunching his own shoulders down. This kiss was far different from the first, much less gentle now that Tony was leading. 

It was want, this kiss, bruising want aching to be drained like blood from a wound. Tony tried to be gentle, guiding his mouth along the sweet curve of Eli’s with patience, pulling them hopelessly together until there was a warning hand pushing against his chest. 

Tony quickly pulled away, looking down at Eli in confusion and worry, furrowing his brows together in concern. Eli was panting again, great gasps of breath being pulled in through his nose, eyelids fluttering slightly. Tony removed one hand from the small of Eli’s back and brought it up to cup his face, tilting Eli’s chin upwards. 

“Tony, if you… continue to do… this… it will be much… harder for me to… catch my breath.” Eli panted, weak and gently smiling, reaching his hand up to wrap around Tony’s wrist, eyes finally opening to gaze at Tony, who swallowed and nodded, gathering Eli back to his chest with a muttering of “can't even make out with a guy without getting fucking winded”. 

And there they sat, for a little while, cold and breathless, listening to each other's heartbeats, tangled in themselves and each other and fabric that was too sweaty to be wearing when it was nearly thirty degrees. Eventually, though, they did have to get up, much to either of their dismay. 

“Come on, you goddamn ice cube, let's get a move on.” Tony murmured, standing up himself before offering a hand to Eli, who took it with a smile and promptly laced their fingers together. Tony grumbled about cold hands and corpses, but he squeezed Eli’s hand all the same as they padded back towards town.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! i love comments and will reply to all of them. you can find me on tumblr at alleninwunderland. also, please go give the creators jeannette (jaymamon.tumblr.com) and ren (godzillabreath.tumblr.com) lots of love and sweet messages about their amazing characters!


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